Author Topic: Buying individual stocks...  (Read 4661 times)

purple monkey

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Buying individual stocks...
« on: March 01, 2016, 10:15:15 AM »
Ok, for those who do...
I used etrade for 8 years and went to Vanguard with all investments to save time.
Hate Vanguard dashboard and process compared to etrade.
Not worth the $3 trade difference. (V=$7, ET=$10)
What place do you use and what is your experience?

PARedbeard

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Re: Buying individual stocks...
« Reply #1 on: March 01, 2016, 10:29:27 AM »
I use TD Ameritrade. I started with them years ago because my uncle, who was my money-guru at the time, was using it and recommended it. Their trade fees are high for single stocks ($10), but I buy infrequently, so I don't mind too much. Plus, they have commission free ETFs, and their list includes a fair few of Vanguard's.

acepedro45

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Re: Buying individual stocks...
« Reply #2 on: March 01, 2016, 11:10:43 AM »
I use Merrill Edge. If you have $100,000 in total at the bank in all your accounts (including your checking, savings, Roth, regular taxable accounts, etc) they give 100 free equity trades a month. I don't think I've ever used more than one trade a month though.

The interface is a little clunky compared to some of the competition. But for people who are looking to trade individual stocks and have some decent cash together, I don't think Merrill Edge can be beat on price. The only trading cost you pay is the bid-ask spread.

They have a decent sign up offer if you do decide to switch. You can pocket up to $600 depending on the size of the balance you transfer.


acepedro45

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Re: Buying individual stocks...
« Reply #3 on: March 01, 2016, 11:21:48 AM »
Quote
I use Merrill Edge. If you have $100,000 in total at the bank in all your accounts (including your checking, savings, Roth, regular taxable accounts, etc) they give 100 free equity trades a month. I don't think I've ever used more than one trade a month though.

The interface is a little clunky compared to some of the competition. But for people who are looking to trade individual stocks and have some decent cash together, I don't think Merrill Edge can be beat on price. The only trading cost you pay is the bid-ask spread.

They have a decent sign up offer if you do decide to switch. You can pocket up to $600 depending on the size of the balance you transfer.


I was just reading up more on Merrill Edge's pricing structure and I wanted to correct my original post.

There "may" be something called an "Additional transaction fee" for some sell orders that charges .01-.03 per $1000 sold....I didn't know that before today. I have just used it to dollar cost average and never sold anything. I wonder how prevalent it is. That still means selling $100k of stock would only cost a maximum of $3, not bad at all.

Moral of story: keep up with the due diligence.

dantownehall

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Re: Buying individual stocks...
« Reply #4 on: March 01, 2016, 01:08:55 PM »
I use TradeKing for everything (except my 401k where I'm stuck with what my company uses).

It's $4.95/trade, a little more for options.

jjcamembert

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Re: Buying individual stocks...
« Reply #5 on: March 01, 2016, 01:45:36 PM »
I use TD Ameritrade's thinkOrSwim platform to do all of my analysis, charts, store watch lists, etc. It has a fairly high learning curve but truly has everything you could possibly want.

However, for performing the actual trade I'll just go into whatever account the money is in. I have several (different 401ks, taxable, Roth, etc) but like Fidelity for having the lowest trading fees although their interface can be clunky. But like I said all I'm doing is putting the order in after doing analysis elsewhere.

Rubic

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Re: Buying individual stocks...
« Reply #6 on: March 01, 2016, 04:06:41 PM »
I switched to etrade last year because they offered a large signup bonus.  When the 12 month term is up, I may consider another brokerage with a similar cash bonus signup (Fidelity, BancWest).  It's a fairly painless process, though you do have to ignore some initial calls from "advisers".

It doesn't really matter how much the brokerage firms charge for individual trades ($5 vs $12), since I make so few of them in any given year.

Tester

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Re: Buying individual stocks...
« Reply #7 on: March 01, 2016, 04:32:24 PM »
I started buying individual stocks (not only stocks, ETFs, REITs) this year just to put some small amount of money aside besides 401K.
I only use 80 USD/month for this experiment so I don't have too much to lose :).
And I use Robinhood, which has zero fees.
It did not make sense for me to pay transaction fees on orders of 60 USD...

purple monkey

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Re: Buying individual stocks...
« Reply #8 on: March 02, 2016, 05:50:53 AM »
Overall, what do you think of Robinhood?
I heard that might charge fees soon.

david51

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Re: Buying individual stocks...
« Reply #9 on: March 02, 2016, 09:16:27 PM »
 I use Scottrade and Fidelity. No problems with either.

Tester

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Re: Buying individual stocks...
« Reply #10 on: March 03, 2016, 02:53:10 PM »
Overall, what do you think of Robinhood?
I heard that might charge fees soon.

I am fine with it.
I can buy (did not sell anything yet), I can see the value of my "holdings", I cans et up automatic deposits from my bank account, I get dividends...
If they will charge fees per trade I will have to find something else (or invest more somewhere else).
As I said it does not make sense to pay fees for transactions which sometimes mean buying one share at 9 USD... :).

They recently started advertising instant settlement - you would get instant access to the funds if you sell opposed to 3 days like it is now.
I don't know how will they do that, I had the impression that the settlement time is a legal requirement...

NoStacheOhio

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Re: Buying individual stocks...
« Reply #11 on: March 04, 2016, 10:18:15 AM »
They recently started advertising instant settlement - you would get instant access to the funds if you sell opposed to 3 days like it is now.
I don't know how will they do that, I had the impression that the settlement time is a legal requirement...

They're probably just advancing you the cash during the settlement period. Sounds like something they could charge a nice little fee for, sort of like "expedited" transfers with your bank vs. normal ACH time.

BigHaus89

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Re: Buying individual stocks...
« Reply #12 on: March 04, 2016, 10:24:50 AM »
I used just2trade during my day/swing trading days. $2.50 trades. They just updated their platform too which looks much better.